1US Biscuit Wheat Variations
Because the South almost exclusively grows and sells soft wheat, US-style biscuits tend to be of higher quality there. Soft wheat is better for biscuits but worse for bread. The opposite is true for the hard wheat in the north and west of the United States.
2. The Abade de Priscos pudding, a Portuguese caramel flan, consists of fifteen egg yolks and prosciutto fat, as well as sweet wine.
3. Rationing during World War II led to the creation of wacky cakes, also known as crazy cakes. Unlike many pastries and desserts, they are unique in that the cake batter doesn't contain eggs, butter, or milk.
4. Star-Gazey pie is a Cornish pastry dish that has fish heads poked out of it.
5. If preserved with alcohol, fruitcakes can remain edible for hundreds of years.
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6Elizabethan Gingerbread Guests
The first gingerbread man was made for the court of Elizabeth I of England and fashioned to look like distinguished guests.
7. Catholic monks created the Portuguese custard tarts, known as Pastel de Nata's, to support their monasteries.
8. The French cake known as Kouign-amann, which is 30% butter and 30% sugar, is the fattiest pastry in all of Europe.
9. In Israel, bourekas (savory pastries) have specific shapes and toppings to show what's inside. For example, salty cheese-filled bourekas are usually flat triangles with white sesame seeds, eggplant-filled ones are cylindrical with nigella seeds, and bean sprout-filled ones are cylindrical without seeds.
10. The "short" in shortcrust pastry refers to how the fats in the dough stop the flour from forming long gluten proteins in any direction. Puff pastry has gluten in layers between layers of fat, like lasagna sheets. If you overwork it, it forms glutens in all directions, making it tough.
11Persipan: Marzipan Alternative
Made from the kernels of either peaches or apricots, persipan is a less expensive alternative to almond-derived marzipan. German stollen pastries commonly use it. However, one must remove amygdalin from the kernels before use, as this compound can cause cyanide poisoning.
12. Crackers have holes because they keep the crackers flat instead of rising a bit like a normal biscuit as the steam tries to escape. These holes also help to properly crisp the crackers.
13. Burger King once released a Halloween-themed burger complete with a black-colored bun. However, many customers later reported that the burger ended up turning their poop neon green.
14. The digestive biscuit is so popular in the UK that an average of 70 of them are consumed there every second.
15. There is a Swiss savory pastry with potatoes, vegetables, fruits, and cheese called "cholera."
16Ancient Yeast Bread Experiment
An amateur Egyptologist, Seamus Blackley, successfully baked bread with 4,500-year-old yeast extracted from ancient Egyptian ceramic jar which was once used to bake bread and brew beer. An injection of a nutrient solution into the jar activated the dormant yeast.
17. Scalpers in NYC sell the cronut, a hybrid of a croissant and doughnut, on the black market for about $100.
18. Sakotis, a Lithuanian tree-shaped cake, is made by continuously pouring layers of batter onto a rotating cylinder. A 2 kg cake uses 30 eggs, but the largest one ever made was 2 meters tall and used 1200 eggs.
19. The pastry known as a "Persian" is available only in the Canadian city of Thunder Bay. Its recipe is a tightly guarded secret, to the point that people don't even know what kind of berry is used for the topping.
20. People traditionally make and eat Speculoos, spiced gingerbread shortcrust cookies, on St. Nicholas Day and throughout the Christmas holiday season. Traditionally, people emboss them with designs using wooden molds, special rolling pins, or cookie stamps.
21Paris Baguette Contest Tradition
Paris holds an annual contest to find the city’s best baguette. Each year, approximately 200 bakers submit two eligible baguettes for grading based on quality, look, smell, taste, and crunch. The winner receives €4,000 and a one-year contract to supply the French president with fresh baguettes every day.
22. The Montreal-style bagel is smaller, sweeter, and denser than the New York (or Brooklyn) style bagel, with a larger hole. It contains malt but no sugar or salt (unlike the New York style) and is boiled in honey-sweetened water before being baked in a wood-fired oven.
23. The King Cake is a Mardi Gras tradition that involves baking a cake with a trinket inside. The trinket finder must either supply the following year's cake or host the next party.
24. Before most houses had ovens in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, street hawkers sold muffins door-to-door as snack bread, giving rise to the traditional song "Do You Know the Muffin Man?"
25. During weddings in medieval England, people would stack scones, cookies, and buns as high as possible. The bride and groom would then try to kiss over this stack of pastries. If they kissed without making it fall, it was believed the couple would have good fortune.
